After Midterm Drubbing, Senate GOP Leadership Should Resign
Tuesday night’s midterms were an unmitigated disaster for Republicans. Democrats are projected to retake the House and likely win the Senate,a shift that would let them block any cabinet or judicial nominations from President Trump for the rest of his term.
The losses weren’t limited to close, competitive contests – Republicans suffered defeats or near-defeats in states normally considered reliably red, including South Carolina and Kansas, with Nebraska only narrowly held and Mississippi too close to call.Even states once viewed as battlegrounds, like Georgia and North Carolina, weren’t considered competitive by Tuesday.
While the Iran war and its economic fallout are widely blamed for depressing GOP turnout, Senate Republican leadership bears significant duty as well. Since regaining the majority, Senate Republicans and their leaders spent more time thwarting the agenda their voters expected than advancing conservative priorities, which helped set the stage for the rout.
Senate Republicans delayed and obstructed several of Trump’s early cabinet choices – such as Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard – and some senators reportedly worked against those nominees behind the scenes. On legislation, aside from a tax cut package that failed to enthuse voters, outgoing Majority Leader John Thune and his allies accomplished very little.
Leadership actively resisted measures like Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship and voter ID for federal elections, and used procedural tactics such as the talking filibuster as excuses to avoid forcing votes. At other times they left town rather than pressing the agenda.
Major conservative priorities – repealing Obamacare, curbing runaway spending, reining in activist judges, among others – were largely ignored or sidelined. It shouldn’t be surprising that many conservative voters stayed home: Republicans in the Senate largely failed to give their base a reason to turn out.
democrats, for all their flaws, showed up for their voters and fought for their interests; most Senate Republicans did not present a compelling option beyond simply opposing Democrats. If Senate GOP leaders had any accountability, they would resign to make room for senators who align with and will act on voters’ priorities – but that would require admitting failure and relinquishing power, which is unlikely.
About the author: Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer at The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He shared the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism and has been published in outlets including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. he can be followed on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood.
There’s no way to describe Tuesday night’s midterm elections as anything other than a complete disaster for Republicans. Not only are Democrats projected to win back the House, but they’re also poised to seize control of the Senate, a victory that allows them to deny President Trump any prospective cabinet or judicial appointments for the remainder of his term.
But it’s not just that Republicans lost “key” Senate races heading into Election Day. It’s that they lost or were close to losing seats in supposedly “red” states.
This includes places like South Carolina (lost), Kansas (lost), Nebraska (relatively close win), Mississippi (too close to call), and others. The environment was so bad for Republicans that states originally seen as battlegrounds, like Georgia and North Carolina, weren’t even considered contested going into Tuesday.
While the Iran war and its harmful effects on the economy have become a large source of blame for the losses (and rightly so), there’s another major culprit responsible for the disaster — Senate GOP leadership.
Since retaking the majority two years ago, the Republican-run upper chamber and its leading senators have spent more time fighting the voters who elected them in 2024 than their Democrat counterparts. No matter the issue, these actors relentlessly worked to undermine conservative priorities, all of which helped set the stage for Tuesday’s drubbing.
Consider that it was Senate Republicans who dragged their feet on confirming Trump cabinet picks like Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard in the early days of the administration. Some of these senators even sought to sabotage these selections behind the scenes when they thought voters weren’t looking.
Things were just as awful on the legislation front. Aside from a tax cut bill that midterm voters clearly didn’t put much stock in, soon-to-be former Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his band of misfits haven’t done — to put it mildly — jack squat.
In fact, Thune and Co. have openly resisted efforts to pass Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s SAVE America Act, which would implement widely supported proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements in federal elections. When they weren’t giving excuses on why they wouldn’t invoke the talking filibuster and force Democrats to debate the issue during their two-and-a-half-day work week, they were busy leaving town to go on vacation.
Senate GOP leadership also couldn’t be bothered to find time to address other major issues conservative voters care about. Issues such as repealing Obamacare, fixing reckless spending, reigning in rogue judges, and more were all left on the chopping block (that is, assuming they were even on it to begin with).
Is it any surprise then that all that Senate GOP fecklessness and betrayal came home to roost in Tuesday’s shellacking?
Yes, Democrats were enthusiastic to turn out and vote against Trump and Republicans. But it’s equally true that Senate Republicans, as demonstrated above, didn’t give their base a reason to show up.
Say what one will about Democrats’ destructive vision for the country (and it is destructive), they deliver for their voters and actually fight for their interests. The same cannot be said for most elected Republicans, who offered no meaningful, alternative message other than “We’re not Democrats.”
If the Republican “leaders” of the Senate had any shame at all after Tuesday’s results, they’d resign their posts for GOP senators who actually agree with their voters and will work to do right by them. But in order for them to do that, they’d actually have to take responsibility for their failures and surrender the power they’ve spent years accumulating. Which is something that has never happened, and sadly, likely never will.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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